The food journal of the lady who doesn't eat just about everything, because she is just one annoyingly fussy person with food and probably has a longer list of food she doesn't like compared to those she likes.
Follow me on my expedition in the search to share things I enjoy to satisfy my picky taste buds at your own risk of being annoyed.
Picky with what I eat, curious about the stories behind the scene and capturing the moments through my lens and diary here...

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Tuesday, November 28, 2006

Long name....this is another dim sum coffee shop we found along Kimberley Street.

It is not too hard to find; if you enter Kimberley Street using the Carnarvon Street route. It is a corner shop directly opposite the Bee Cheng Hiang row of shophouses. In fact, it is directly opposite the end of the row of BCH and you should be able to see it.

Another landmark would be the famous Goh Huat Seng restaurant which is just next to it.

This shop operates at fairly early hours ooo.....I think the last round I was there at 5.45a.m and there were already a bunch of people around...hehe:)

Their variety is also not as much as Tai Thong but they are slightly lower priced and also smaller in portions. However, compared to Yong Pin, they have slightly more stuffs that are non-meaty...hehehe:P

Their fishballs; not too bad...nicer than Tai Thong:)

Smells and taste like fish:p

Their prawn dumplings (Har Kao)....not as nice as the others...prawns are not as fresh. Another fish paste product; actually sits on top of the beancurd sheet which we initially thought was fried eggs...

Another interesting thing is they still decorate their fish products with those mixed veggies(corn, peas and carrots) as condiments....I like that:)

Dad had this the other morning; and I was curious when he kept mentioning that he's getting "Wong Tai Min" (Emperor Noodles) for breakfast.

I was waiting to look at how this noodles look like to gain the fame of a royal title; furthermore the nickname of the emperor's food...hmmmm.

However, to my dismay, it is just like any normal wanton noodles that we see sold everywhere in food courts and food stalls.

Dad also confirmed that the noodles used are the same as well; thus why is this called Emperor noodles?

It seemed pretty popular in KL as well; I haven't heard of it so far up here in north...will do further studies to find out what is the intriguing part about this noodles....dad said it even tasted the same....haha

My initial guess is it is just a marketing gimmick to attract the customers...give it a new name and voila, there you go with another con product...:P

Tuesday, November 21, 2006

Okay, this is an overdue post on my trip to Cameron Highlands 2-3 months ago.

I will be blogging about that Cameron trip in my other blog:p
Anyway, I just took out the food portion; where we had lunch in Cameron:)

We were cruising around, looking for a place for lunch; making rounds in Ringlet town, Brinchang, etc when we saw a banner by this stretch of shophouses where it was publishing on a steamboat promotion in the hotel coffee house.
We somehow felt attracted to the idea of steaming hot food in this chilly weather although I was a little worried about the price but anyway, since we were on a vacation trip(although it is just a day trip), we made our way to the hotel in no time.

To my amazement, I was awed by the hotel and both the exterior and interior design of the hotel. It just gives you that kind of Western European type of setting (which is my favourite type of design); it has that French village and cottage style of look...really westernized place - felt like I was overseas in a Western country at that time.

We went into the hotel lobby; it's actually not a very big hotel, quaint and comfortable place.

I loved their furnitures; upon our entrance we saw the cafe on our right and walked straight in; it was pretty empty.

This is how the cafe looks like; very nicely and tastefully decorated; I loved those white wicker furnitures *winks*

Did I mention how much I love this place?? Hehehe:p

We found a waitress and a plump man dressed in formal attire preparing the food for the buffet (I think) and we asked about the steamboat promotion.

The young girl didn't seem to understand us and the guy(who was actually the manager) came to her rescue (or our rescue:p ) and told us that the steamboat is on.

He ushered us to our seat and took our order for drinks.

We ordered the steamboat for 2 servings and then ordered their strawberry ice blended:p (I love ice-blended too much...hehe:)

Me...smiling with joy to have lunch in such a nice place...

Soon, our drinks arrived. However, it came blended with milk and I was so disappointed that my friend requested for a change; since I was little lactose-intolerant.

To my surprise, the captain obligingly and courteously (immediately) changed the drink for me and this is my strawberry juice...yum yum....really nice...tasted natural:)

Thumbs up for the prompt attention and action on the matter and without any fuss.
Guess that's the way it is when you dine in a good place (expensive), they are customer-oriented.(my friend told me the same thing)

I loved the juice; everything seems to be about strawberries here in Cameron that I pleaded to stay back here...hahaha:D

The waitress(actually a trainee; very sweet local Chinese girl with rosy cheeks - guess living in this weather gives you naturally beautiful complexion as well *winks*) came back to set up the stove for the steamboat...hehe

Then the food came; look at the spread of food on the table....

We put in a lot of stuffs and left it cooking....there's a divider between the 2 soup sections in the steamboat pot; tomyam and clear soup respectively. Left it there to cook for a while lar....

Sorry, no closer shots of the food; we were busy with the steaming hot stuffs and wasted no time to eat; before it cools off:p

The bill came up to about RM70++ (for just a simple steamboat lunch!! :O)

Their promotion is RM35 nett per pax during this season...wowww, that's promotion price? I don't dare to imagine if it is normal price:p

The steamboat is normal only; not that extraordinary ( not a case of sour grapes here) but it is definitely not one of the best steamboat I tasted. Mum's steamboat and Kocha's is way much better:p

However, the place was an added point *winks*

Out of curiosity as well, we proceeded to the reception to request for the price for a night's stay and it was like pricey; RM300(min) and above for their suites. Phewww....this is definitely a 5-star type of place

Leaving...took a quick snapshot of this classic style hotel....not a bad place :)

Review: Steamboat was so-so lar; but the drinks were not too bad...hehehe

This is Feng Wei (Fung Mei - Wind Taste) dim sum place in the Super Eagle Foodcourt in Sg Ara, near the airport and the military camp area. I have been frequenting this place before this since a friend brought me here before; after that I kinda started venturing around other places in town and everywhere on the island.

Hmmm... I remembered I like this place due to its large variety in prawn dumplings (I love seafood!!) and they are pretty much steamed to my liking. Not forgetting their fishballs which I liked as well; with steamed napa cabbage as condiments.

However, I did stop for a while when I found out that their prawns were not too fresh and the taste is not so nice anymore. In fact, it was getting tad a bit too oily dy :(

But recently when I revisited the place, it was not too bad as well although it is really based on their seasonal swings - sometimes it tastes nice, sometimes it doesn't :(

The first one we usually take; for me,me, me....hehehe....fishballs that doesn't taste too spongey (very geli when it is spongey)

Purely steamed with the napa cabbage and a little light and clear soup:)

The Har Kao! (Prawn dumplings)

They looked nice and pretty fresh this round :)

Another differently wrapped har kao; but they taste pretty much the same as well lar :)

Another version of prawn dumplings; this one tasted slightly different as they blended carrots along with the prawns as well.

Not bad :)

A picture of most of the food we ordered:)

Review: Not bad lar; occasionally :p But they have a large range of varieties and mind you, they are always packed on weekends; especially on Sundays. No place to sit and all on self-service. In fact the whole food court is crowded with all the people that I doubt whether they can remember which table paid and which didn't.

Well, I think the people around this area are still educated enough not to escape the bill:p

Been to this place twice actually; first time was last year with my boss and my mentor to specially celebrate her birthday before she flew home and it was all on the boss...hehe...thank you boss!!~

But I also worked hard ooo....rushing around to get the cake....muahahaha...too bad no pictures.

This time, I came back to this restaurant for a special occasion again and the settings pretty much didn't change; still the same and romantic.

I was early this time and was led to the waiting area while our table was being set up along with a few other groups of people. Most of them were working people as well and with foreigners (Americans and Europeans).

Soon we were led to our table on the larger concourse at the lower level. Was a little cold actually.

At the same time, managed to snap some photos of the settings and the interior design of this mansion-styled restaurant:

Grand ler? Hehe...

The group that was waiting along with us and was seated before us. The lady had a nice top and a stylish jacket which she draped over the chair...loved it! :P

The waiter came immediately and laid the napkin on my lap for me (as they always do for you in these fine-dining restaurants.

Then he handed us the menus; this is the black menu (nothing special, most of the fine-dining restaurants have the same styled menu anyway:p )

Pricing of the food ranges from RM30 above for each course meal. You can opt for their set meals; which include bread, soup of the day, coffee/tea, main course of your choice and dessert for approximately RM69 per pax.

Then we ordered the drinks; me for orange juice (fresh) and my friend went for the pinepple juice which turned out to be poured from the can and the brand is Fruit Tree....and guess how much is that drink? RM9 bucks

Mine was RM9; but at least it's freshly squeezed:P

Still, you can't compare the prices too much when you come to places like these....but I always wonder the real reason why we are not allowed to compare....bluekkks.

Next, they came to approach us whether we wanted garlic bread for starters while waiting for the food. We declined the offer after being approached twice by 2 different waiters.

Then they brought us the bread basket with butter...hehehe...guess they were afraid we may starve of hunger:P

These are complimentary of the restaurant; I do not know how much they will charge for the bread after charging almost 10x for a canned drink:P

To be frank, comparing to the first visit, the quality of their food has definitely deteriorated:(

Both fish were grilled to burn; overcooked and the flesh was too hard; definitely lost the fresh taste and sweetness of the fish.

Finished the food eventually....cleaned up the plate dy:P

A little lighted candle and it is getting dark in the area since we were at the concourse where the ceiling is actually made of glass.
Goodnight looor.....my review, not bad for a romantic getaway for the sake of the ambience and mood. For ringgit value and also food, do not really recommend coz it is not as good as before.
Place: 32 The MansionLocation: Near E&O hotel; near Garage
Environment: 4/5
Food: 2.5/5Service: 4/5

Wednesday, November 15, 2006

Hehe...after a while after the lunch at Little Oasis, we saw this Tai He Cafe at the back row of the shops; something like a street cafe behind the boutiques and what caught my eye was the Ice desserts they have; they had the poster on the glass window.We headed in and looked through the menu which contains loads of different types of ice desserts; grape, soursop(my fave for ice desserts), soursop with guava(not available that day...bummer), Mango, Kiwi, strawberry and one of their speciality (highlighted) is the durian and sweet corn...YIKES (no offense meant):p ( I am no fan of durian although I love corn...but the combination just doesn't seem right for me:p)

Anyway, since I couldn't try the soursop and guava, I was deciding between strawberry, kiwi and plain soursop. My friend then decided that we go for strawberry and kiwi and so it was.

This is what I ordered; the Strawberry Nata De Coco Ice dessert.....

However, I noticed the kiwi looked a bit too dark for the green kiwi I usually know and thus we changed it back to soursop:p

It costs about RM4.50 per bowl; a little more expensive than the last time I had it in Dajie Dessert House which charges only RM4. I suppose it is due to the rental here in the mall:)

Anyway, the dessert was not as nice as I expected but better than the one in Dajie....Ooo...another part was the waiter/guy who took our orders...was a little annoying. We told him that we will look through the menu first and we need some time. However, he doesn't seem to get the message and stood there waiting for us; making a nuisance out of himself as well as distracting us...sighhhh:(

Yikes...I am on my annual shopping spree again...it's that time of the year and in case you are wondering, yes, I am one girl who only does her shopping once a year. The rest of the year I either do window shopping or spend my time on reading and other hobbies...hehe:) Contrary to other girls you know...haha....there's still some of us do not shop all year you know:P

I went to a couple of places; but the main focus I would say is still Prangin Mall down town and Gurney Plaza...actually I don't really fancy Prangin Mall that much, but since I wanted to look for something unique, I just thought of giving this place a try:)

We walked for a short while then decided to go for lunch; actually we did some scouting first to check out the eating places as my friend wanted to make sure I could eat most of the food too:p

We found a hidden little place which serves Western food....yikes, Western food again...I am not really too enthusiastic about Western; but seems like that's what I have been having recently...bummer:(

Anyway, we went to this place called Little Oasis and it looks pretty dark...they decorated and designed their cafe with blue and green neon lights...giving it a rather dark and I should say haunted look:P

So we were presented with the menu; actually most of the stuffs here were pretty reasonably priced; the range of the Western food set is about RM7~RM20.

We ordered the grilled fish with the special marinated BBQ sauce...

Then we proceeded to order our drinks...I noticed they do have the Iced Blended selection and I ordered the Strawberries Ice Blended.

My friend just ordered the plain Watermelon juice.

I was still busy looking through the menu which we requested them to leave behind to browse through any interesting items when our drinks arrived.

That's a shot of my Ice Blended Strawberry Drink and also a side shot of the Watermelon Juice.

So, how was the Ice Blended Strawberry?

Haha....I look happy drinking it? Gotcha....actually it is really bland and practically all it tastes is like rough ice with colour and a light stint of strawberry scent. Disappointed in the drink....and the watermelon juice tasted so sweet that it probably had tons of sugar in it:p

Well, I was crossing my fingers hoping that the fish will taste pretty decent as the drinks totally fell below my expectation and definitely lost its deserving marks:(

Anyway, we didn't have to wait long as our food soon arrived....tada....our BBQ sauce Fish fillet set is here...

A closer shot....hmmm, doesn't taste as good as well...a little too oily and also not properly marinated. The BBQ sauce....it was too plain. Pretty disappointing; and just FYI, they will opening a new branch soon in Gurney area; above the McDonald's outlet in Gurney Drive which is currently being occupied by a Korean restaurant; Seoul Garden which I tried before last year.Anyway, you can give Little Oasis a try if you want; just try ordering something else...and don't order the Ice-blended drinks...too bland:pPlace: Little OasisLocation: 4th Floor, Prangin Mall (next to the downgoing escalator)Rating: 2/5

Moving on the desserts, these are the pics of the cakes they serve...enjoy the view:)

Mango pudding

Fruits section...limited choices of fruits as in other hotels as well...I think they only have starfruit, honeydew and pineapple..which was quite sweet...

A section which we missed; cold seafood...

Anyway...not too bad; it came up to RM70 for the meal with RM60 for the buffet and the miscellaneous tax charges which added up to almost RM10 but I believe this is one of the most reasonably priced seafood buffet in town...and the variety was not bad:)Place: Berjaya Hotel